The great majority of residences today include a seating unit, such as a sofa or chair, near which is placed a table, such as a coffee table or end table. Coffee tables can provide a surface for supporting food and drink and displaying decorative items and reading materials, and can also by themselves improve the appearance of the room. Likewise, end tables can provide a support surface for these items as well as reading lamps, telephones, and the like.
One of the drawbacks of the support surfaces provided by coffee tables and end tables is the inconvenient location of the table surface relative to an occupant of the seating unit. For example, if the occupant rests a plate of food or a drinking glass on the coffee table, he must lean forward from a seated position to retrieve it; this is somewhat awkward, particularly with seating units that employ deep, soft cushions. If the occupant wishes to eat from the plate or drink from the glass, he has two options. First, he can lean over the table while eating or drinking, which is even more awkward than simply leaning over the table to retrieve the plate. Second, the occupant can grasp the plate and carefully balance it as it travels with him to the seated position, after which he must support the plate as he eats. Either of these options is unsatisfactory, as the risk of the occupant spilling food or drink onto the table, the underlying floor (which is often carpeted), or the seating unit itself, is significant.
The situation is no better with an end table; the occupant must twist to retrieve the plate or glass from the end table and either consume in this awkward twisted position or balance the plate or glass as it travels and resides over the seating unit. Often the difficulty is exacerbated by the presence of an armrest on the end of the seating unit that the occupant must negotiate.
Further, the typical coffee table provides no surface between occupants seated on either end of a sofa that can serve as a card or game table. Thus occupants of the seating unit utilizing the table for this purpose must twist awkwardly to reach the table.
The underlying cause of these difficulties is the position of the table surface relative to the seating unit. On coffee tables, the table surface is too low and too far forward for easy access to the occupant of a seating unit. On end tables, the table surface is placed beside rather than directly in front of a seated occupant. However, furniture styles dictate that coffee tables provide table surfaces in these locations.
One attempt to address this problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,766,088 to Jackson et al., in which a coffee table is illustrated which includes a table surface that rises and moves laterally from its base to reside in front of an occupant of an adjacent seating unit. A shortcoming of the Jackson et al. table is demonstrated when the occupant wishes to rise from the seating unit while the table is in its extended position. With the table top extended, the occupant may be pinned behind the table; either the occupant must lower the entire table surface to escape, or the table surface must be sufficiently short that it does not rest directly in front of the occupant in the extended position. A similar table is shown in Crowther et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,452, which discloses a coffee table that has two separate table surfaces that can rise and retract independently. This allows the occupant pinned behind the table top to move the tabletop section directly in front of him without disturbing the tabletop in front of the other occupants. Neither of these references disclose a table that provides a tabletop that extends between occupants seated on opposite ends of a sofa. Further, each of these tabletops is moved to the extended position by a bulky mechanism that is unsuitable for many modern table styles, such as "off-the-floor" tables and tables having a base that is relatively narrow in comparison to the tabletop. For these and other examples, the mechanism would be visually exposed and thus render the table unacceptably unsightly.
In addition, the table top for many tables can be quite heavy. As a result, raising the table top can be difficult, particularly for a weak or feeble operator. Further, due to its weight, during lowering the table top can slip from the grip of the operator and slam violently into the closed position. The table disclosed in Crowther et al. includes a pneumatic cylinder attached to the table top and the lower portion of the table legs to provide resistance to the lowering action and thus prevent slamming of the table top during lowering. However, as above, this configuration is limited to table styles in which the cylinder is not exposed.
A further shortcoming of many coffee tables becomes apparent when a table is placed adjacent a seating unit which includes one or more extendable footrests. Generally, to be reasonably comfortable an extendable footrest must extend between about 18 and 30 inches from the front of the chair. The conventional positioning of a coffee table relative to a seating unit places the table so that the tabletop interferes with an extendable footrest as it extends. As a result, seating units that include a footrest must either be placed sufficiently far from the coffee table so that the footrest can be extended without interference, or the table must be moved away from the seating unit prior to the footrest being extended.
Another deficiency of known embodiments of extendable tables in the eyes of some consumers is their appearance. Typically the table is extended through the use of a front and rear pivot link, each of which comprises a straight member extending between pivots. In such a configuration, both the front and rear pivot links are visible to an observer positioned to view the lateral edges of the table. Many consumers find this configuration unsightly and would prefer that the table have a sleeker appearance. In addition, tables controlled by mechanisms having this configuration create a "pinch-point" between the links which can cause discomfort to an operator of the table should he place his finger between the links during lowering of the table surface.
Thus it is a first object of the present invention to provide a table having a movable table surface which is more visually attractive than those of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a table having a movable surface which creates no pinch-points between the links of the mechanism during lowering of the table surface.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a mechanism suitable for use in such a table.